Le Grand-Saconnex, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland

🇨🇭 Le Grand-Saconnex is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.

Several international organizations and permanent missions to the United Nations are located in Grand Saconnex. Consequently, the population of Grand Saconnex is quite cosmopolitan one of the most diverse in Switzerland, with nearly 40% of the population being born outside of Switzerland.

Geneva International Airport is partially within the borders of Le Grand-Saconnex.

History Le Grand-Saconnex is first mentioned in 1128 as Saconai.

Geography Le Grand-Saconnex has an area, as of 2009, of 4.38 square km (1.69 sq mi). Of this area, 0.62 km² (0.24 sq mi) or 14.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.09 km² (0.035 sq mi) or 2.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.66 km² (1.41 sq mi) or 83.6% is settled (buildings or roads).

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 32.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 41.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.5% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 5.3%. Out of the forested land, 0.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 5.9% is used for growing crops and 7.1% is pastures, while 1.1% is used for orchards or vine crops.

The municipality is located just to west of the city of Geneva and forms part of the greater Geneva area. It is on the right bank of Lake Geneva.

The municipality of Le Grand-Saconnex consists of the sub-sections or villages of Aéroport - Arena, Aéroport - fret, Les Blanchets, Grand-Saconnex - Organisations, Grand-Saconnex - village, La Tour - Chapeau-du-Curé, Le Pommier, Grand-Saconnex - Marais, Le Jonc and Palexpo.

Heritage The World Council of Churches with Archives and the UNESCO Centre de documentation are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Economy Geneva International Airport is partially within Le Grand-Saconnex.

Palexpo the convention centre of Geneva is within Le Grand-Saconnex. The complex is located next to the airport and held each year a multitude of exhibition. We can highlight the Geneva Motor Show and the Salon du livre.

As of  2010, Le Grand-Saconnex had an unemployment rate of 6.6%. As of 2008, there was 1 person employed in the primary economic sector and about 1 business involved in this sector. 243 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 42 businesses in this sector. 8,955 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 380 businesses in this sector. There were 4,171 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 47.5% of the workforce.

In 2008 the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 8,069. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 1, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 230 of which 127 or (55.2%) were in manufacturing and 96 (41.7%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 7,838. In the tertiary sector; 1,347 or 17.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2,856 or 36.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 456 or 5.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 232 or 3.0% were in the information industry, 97 or 1.2% were the insurance or financial industry, 302 or 3.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 62 or 0.8% were in education and 331 or 4.2% were in health care.

In 2000, there were 5,621 workers who commuted into the municipality and 3,394 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.7 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 11.9% of the workforce coming into Le Grand-Saconnex are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.3% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 24.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.8% used a private car.